Nature reporting: supporting your sustainability goals

The role of nature and its direct and indirect interdependencies with sustaining business growth is becoming the highest priority for businesses globally over the coming decade. Mandatory sustainability reporting requirements are emerging in response and they require you to understand your nature-based impacts, risks and opportunities and disclose how you assess, manage and take action.

Navigating nature reporting and identifying the best nature strategy for your company can be complex due to the varying reporting standards, nature policies, and ecological landscapes in different countries. The interconnections between habitats, water, and the factors contributing to good quality habitats that sustain both biodiverse ecosystems and business services further complicate reporting.

Ricardo can help you unravel this complexity and identify the strategy that makes sense for your business. By acting now, you can develop a clear roadmap ahead of mandatory disclosures, ultimately lowering the cost of transition.

Tools that can help you navigate the nature-related regulation and reporting maze

Following on from the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) approach, the good news is that the recently introduced Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) guidance proposes specific recommendations to support companies to assess their nature-related risks and opportunities, and also their dependencies and impacts on nature. While TNFD reporting is not yet mandatory, the Locate, Evaluate, Assess and Prepare (LEAP) approach that underpins TNFD has been highlighted as a method to report on Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) for nature-based disclosures, and to create the baseline knowledge needed for setting targets and mandatory reporting.

Ricardo has developed a TNFD approach for nature reporting that can help you navigate this complex maze.
Download here

The diagram below provides an overview of different sustainability and disclosure reporting standards. It is not yet mandatory in every geographical location but nonetheless, nature reporting can help businesses identify and understand nature-related risks and opportunities. Early adoption has the benefit of enabling businesses to  capitalised on identified opportunities and stay ahead in a rapidly changing reporting landscape. And added to that it can enhance business reputation. Thus Ricardo recommends early adoption of nature reporting everywhere, as this will ensure preparedness for when it inevitably does become mandatory. 

So why not start to identify business-associated environmental benefits/opportunities and flag early risks related to nature, reputation or regulation?

* Mandatory roadmap proposed in some countries
** EU ESG Diagnostic Tool - assessing your readiness for CSRD compliance
** Guide to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive for the US Market

Developing a roadmap to reporting and how Ricardo can help

To fully assess and understand company-nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks, and opportunities, which usually occur on a local level, you must map habitats, understand their value, and engage stakeholders. It can be as simple as starting with identifying what has already been done, what is needed and the assessment of impacts and dependencies. 

To develop a roadmap to reporting, there are some key questions that you can ask of your business to help you determine what your next actions should be. But before you begin, it is important to ask: 

‘Are nature-related ESG topics such as biodiversity, water, pollution and circular economy/waste materiality significant for my company's business activities including upstream and downstream within the value chain?’

If the answer is yes, then answer the next 3 questions to develop a roadmap:

• Does my company (including value chain) need to report on nature as part of sustainability standards?
  Noting the benefits of voluntary reporting outlined above, Ricardo recommends that if the answer to this question is no, companies still consider what nature reporting mechanisms align with mandatory sustainability standards to help stay ahead of the game.
• Has any nature-based reporting been carried out previously that could be built on (for e.g. biodiversity, water etc.)? 
  If no work has been done, then contact our experts and we can help provide the expertise needed to navigate the complexities of nature reporting for not only compliance but for proactive engagement as well.
• Do I know which tools are right for my company to use?
  If yes, we urge you to ensure your company (and value chain) understand the area, size and condition of nature assets it impacts and depends upon. If there is any ambiguity, then you will need to understand what tools will support effective nature reporting tailored to your company's specific needs and help build on these efforts to include nature reporting comprehensively.

Ricardo won’t pretend we have all the answers for you because every case will be different. But we can help you navigate more easily through this complex, but fascinating journey with the aim of supporting your business needs, listening to what works for you and developing ideas to support nature that achieves sustainable growth targets. 

We have:

• Experts in all the component technical parts needed to answer environmental questions including biodiversity, water resources management, natural capital, nature finance, nature-based solutions, carbon and biodiversity credit markets, climate adaptation, scenario analysis, environmental policy, sustainability, ESG regulations, standards, materiality assessments and reporting.

We can:

• Work with you to understand your interdependencies with nature, their materiality and the strategy to respond
• Help you decide on the reporting tools and methods that work best for your organisation
• Complete TNFD and associated assessments with recommended ideas and solutions that are ecologically compliant 

We develop:

• In-house GIS ecosystem mapping tools to identify the most useful/successful potential biodiversity opportunities, scenario analysis, integrating policies and targets for companies that are bespoke to your needs  

For support on your sustainability and disclosure reporting or to just understand your company’s nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities, download Ricardo’s TNFD Approach as a starter and please do get in touch with our experienced team if you need any more advice.

Further reading:

• Ricardo's TNFD approach for nature reporting
• Navigating EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)
• Robust and credible sustainability and ESG strategies
• EU ESG Diagnostic Tool - assessing your readiness for CSRD compliance
• Natural Capital Protocol
• TNFD: The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures
• GRI
• CDP
• ISSB: IFRS
• Convention on Biological Diversity: Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework
• Science Based Targets: Ambitious corporate climate action
• EU CSRD